There really is nothing like the Thin Blue Line.
As a retired police officer it was my distinct honor to interview Laura Fragoso about the loss of her brother, Deputy Sheriff Kevin Blount, when his helicopter made an emergency landing on a hilly area. When the Eurocopter-EC120 landed, the tail end broke off, causing the fuselage of the helicopter to roll down a hill. Kevin and his pilot, Joseph Kievernagel were both killed in the crash. Deputy Eric Henrikson was in the aircraft, training to be an observer and was very badly injured.
Kevin was 29 years old and had served as a deputy sheriff for 7 years.
What is the Thin Blue Line?
The thinbluelinefoundation.org definition is: The Thin Blue Line represents the men and women of law enforcement that stand between good and evil, order and chaos. The black stripes above the blue line represent the public and the bottom black stripes represent the criminal.
It was so eye opening for me to get this perspective. That of a surviving family member of a fallen officer.
Laura describes getting the news that Kevin had been in an accident, the aftermath of the news, and how it influenced her to serve others who experience trauma.
If you would like to donate to survivors of fallen officers, check out:
My name is Laura and I am a wife, mommy and preschool teacher.
I have been married to my wonderful husband for 13 years and we have three awesome boys that are 10, 8 and 1. They keep me on my toes daily. I love them with all of my heart and they also make me want to pull my hair out half the time. Momming is hard stuff but I wouldn’t change it for anything.
I believe I was put on this earth to be these boys’ Mom and I am thankful God entrusted me with them. I love to laugh and be silly and I wear my heart on my sleeve...sometimes to my own detriment. But that’s me. I am a helper by nature and after losing my big brother, Kevin, in a line of duty helicopter crash, I became a Law Enforcement Chaplain and put my helper heart to work. I was honored to be there for individuals and families during tragedy and crisis to help ease their pain or just be a shoulder to cry on.
When I’m not working at the Preschool you can find me watching Friends on repeat, drinking wine, eating cheese and crackers, playing with makeup or in my jammies with my kiddos. This thing called life is crazy and I’m just along for the ride.